diff --git a/ci_resources/find-latest-pre-release-branch.sh b/ci_resources/find-latest-pre-release-branch.sh
index f422f6d0ed..653cbdd467 100755
--- a/ci_resources/find-latest-pre-release-branch.sh
+++ b/ci_resources/find-latest-pre-release-branch.sh
@@ -16,16 +16,17 @@ latest_merge_base=""
 
 # Source refs to find branches from
 local_refs="refs/heads/releases/*"  # For debug and development
-remote_refs=$(git for-each-ref --format="%(refname:short)" refs/remotes/origin/ | grep -E "origin/[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+_pre_release$")
+remote_refs=$(git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate --format="%(refname:short)" refs/remotes/origin/ | grep -E "origin/[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+_pre_release$")
 
 # Iterate over all remote release branches sorted by commit date (most recent first)
 for branch in $remote_refs; do
+    # Find the common ancestor (merge base) between the base branch and the current branch
     merge_base=$(git merge-base "$base_branch" "$branch")
 
     echo "Merge base for branches '$branch' and '$base_branch' is '$merge_base'"
 
-    if [ -z "$latest_merge_base" ] || git rev-list "$merge_base..$base_branch" | grep -q .; then
-        echo "Update"
+    # Update the latest branch and merge base if the current merge base is a descendant of the latest merge base
+    if [ -z "$latest_merge_base" ] || git merge-base --is-ancestor "$latest_merge_base" "$merge_base"; then
         latest_branch="$branch"
         latest_merge_base="$merge_base"
     fi
@@ -45,4 +46,4 @@ fi
 latest_branch="${latest_branch#origin/}"
 
 echo "$latest_branch" > "find-latest-pre-release-branch.output"
-echo "Latest release branch created directly from '$base_branch' or its ancestor: '$latest_branch'"
+echo "Latest 'pre_release' branch created from '$base_branch' or its ancestor: '$latest_branch'"